Travel
I mean, you just know any trip that starts with watching someone filming for the TLC show "before the 90 days" is going to be fantastic. Lebanon, you did not disappoint. I, however, am a bit disappointed in myself since I waited a casual 7 months to write this, so I'm reduced to listing a few funny anecdotes.
Read MoreKeeping it brief since it’s either a picture of food, Dan or a building (or in one case, a building called the Dan) - we finally left Tel Aviv for a day trip to Jerusalem where you guessed it, we ate and I took pictures of Dans. Not willing to go all the way through Istanbul without stopping for a meal (or three), we (I) purposely booked a 7 hour layover for snacking. Don’t you want to be my travel buddy? Whenever I go somewhere I really like I get an almost panic that I don’t know when / if I’ll get to go back and see / eat things again. Hopefully 2019 will be a year of eating new and familiar delicious snacks around the world.
Read MoreIt seems a little crazy to say that I'd never been to New Jersey, but the trip for Tyler and Al's wedding had great people and delicious strip mall bagels for cheap so I don't see what's not to love! :) I may be partly joking about the bagels (but not really) but I'm definitely not joking about Tyler and Al and their friends and family making this a fantastic wedding. Between the church cat (John, naturally), misty rain, and two people filled with love and joy, you can't go wrong.
Read MoreThe stuff that really made Istanbul great for me was the stuff I didn't know about until I got there. And that's on top of everything I knew that made me really really want to go there. But the bal kaymak, the ferries, the fresh fruits, the tiny winding streets. Those are the things that I'm still thinking about months later.
Read MoreTel Aviv went rapidly from (1) a place that was (stupidly) not even on my travel radar, to (2) I'm so grateful and satisfied to have gotten to go once, to (3) WE HAVE TO GO BACK, full Lost-style.
Read MoreAfter every wedding I get to be a part of, I am struck by how amazing it is that I have been let in to such an intimate and special day in peoples' lives. It's a level of giddyness I'll never get over and gratitude that, despite my best efforts, I never feel that I've properly conveyed to the people who invited me to be there.
These feelings get magnified times a million when your friends let you be the only person to witness their elopement. Then times a bajillion that they chose San Francisco and Yosemite as the backdrop. And they let you make stops for hotdogs and keychains at the national park gift shop? Pretty unparalleled coolness.
After their ceremony at city hall, we explored the sutro baths before road tripping out to Far Meadow. In an epically twisty and barf-inducing (but totally worth it) drive, you are rewarded with a cabin and two a-frames set on a mountain meadow. Getting ready for the wedding consisted of a quick round of Boggle, a complete breakfast, and heading to the car for the drive to Yosemite. We came across a secluded part of the Merced river, perfect for a private exchange of vows, and then wound our way up to Glacier Point for a hike for views out over the whole valley. A perfect, whistle-stop NorCal tour.
Read MoreIt's crazy that you can get to Guadeloupe in less than 4 hours. Even though I would have taken another day or two to hang out and do very little while drinking local fruit juice (speaking of crazy. I'm wild like that), the cheap flights really do make it a tempting long-weekend trip.
Read MoreWe ended our France trip with a day and a half in Paris, where the primary goal was to use the rest of my film and eat everything I could get my paws on. Missions accomplished!
Read MoreAnyone planning a destination wedding? Can I invite myself? Bree and Peter and their friends and family met up at the El Dorado Royale for a long weekend of Mexican sun, sea and drinks served in hollowed out pineapples (!!!). Even if pineapple drinks aren't on the table, this is probably the way to do it. Everyone has already had a bit of vacation and a few drinks/swims by the time the wedding comes around so there are very few nerves or possible frustrations. The result? You get a laid-back, tropical, pool-jumping party.
Read MoreThe one thing I tried so hard to do all day was not say that something was gorgeous because the t-shirt ruined that descriptor of Ithaca ten years ago. I failed very hard though, because this day was gorge gorge gorge.
Read MoreProvence isn't really one of those destinations that you need to convince people is beautiful and worth visiting, so I'll spare you all that and fill you in on some fun things we did and answer some of my own questions I had before leaving. There are lots of things I just couldn't find out about - a combination of me trying to over-prepare in case my french failed us (a very likely scenario!) and a lack of websites and information online (so french).
Read MoreVieques. A place you have either never heard of or one you are eagerly planning to return to. The perfect destination for one of my favorite types of travel. The kind where you drive aimlessly and stop and explore. In this case, beaches with no one else there, narrow jungle roads, and small towns. It is not the ideal vacation location for people who need to be entertained. But if sunrises, jungles, surprisingly great food, and an occasional (ok, one) termite swarm are your thing, then you'll be in heaven.
Read MoreWith a good chunk of the day before Elina and Dan's rehearsal dinner, it was time to hit the ground running once we landed in Nashville - or rather, start shoveling hot chicken into our faces. It went: coffee, hot chicken, ice cream, flower truck, repeat foods. Which, if this needs clarification, is my ultimate trip pattern.
Read MoreSomeone who can combine garden roses, succulents, driftwood and custom Lego people is someone I need in my life. They may be someone I have begged to let me join their family (and chances are that person is nice enough to say "OK!" and not roll their eyes at me). Elina and Dan invited their friends and family down to Nashville for their wedding weekend and I was so grateful to be on hand to document their day and to have a chance to see a little bit of the city (translation - the inside of the hot chicken place).
Read More
Where to even begin with Matt and Clare's wedding. The midwest has charmed me again! On the way over in the morning, I pulled the car over countless times to observe/photograph/pick wildflowers and shake my head at how beautiful Michigan is. Combine that with the most welcoming and laid back wedding party, friends and family, unfettered use of the golf carts (!!!), people willing to bring me lunch, feed me buttered rolls and palm me tiny bottles of wine (you guys know who you are - love you) and you get some of the fantastic experience.
Read MoreThose glorious film colors (#teamEktar) are now burned in my brain as what Tel Aviv looks like. If we could add smell-o-vision of fresh frying falafel and pita and herbs, then it would be perfect. And I need to get breakfast ASAP before I start gnawing on the computer thinking about the food. With Dan on a work trip to Tel Aviv, I naturally invited myself to pop over for a few days.
Read MoreTodd and Emily got married at Sutliff Cider in Iowa - a state where I frankly did not know what to expect, having only experienced a drive by of the quad cities a decade ago. It turns out that Iowa City is a beautiful, shockingly friendly haven of ultra-cool. There were cornfields on the way in, sure, but I don't think that's what I'll be remembering.
Read Moreahhhh Provincetown during the off season. Free to wander Commercial Street juggling a pimento cheese-slathered biscuit and a pitbull with hardly anyone around to bump into.
Read MoreThe light all over Maui but especially along the road to Hana was so beautiful, we kept saying "warm light, dark sky, can't lose" just like Coach Taylor.
Read MoreI had been leeching off the internet for a while leading up to this trip, scouring for blogs and trip reports and pictures and wanting more! Whenever I'm going somewhere I always want a sneak preview of what it looks like (it must be related to my wanting to know how a movie ends before I go) but I thought I'd put something on the interwebs in return.
Read More
